page_title: Bethel Strict Baptist Chapel, Wivelsfield
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Bethel Strict Baptist Chapel, Wivelsfield / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: Wivelsfield Strict Baptist Chapel, East Sussex, England.
context_page_description: Bethel Baptist Chapel is a Strict Baptist place of worship in the village of Wivelsfield in East Sussex, England. The cause was founded in 1763 by members of a chapel at nearby Ditchling; Henry Booker and other worshippers seceded and began to meet at Wivelsfield after hearing a sermon by George Whitefield. Although some members of the new church soon returned to the Ditchling congregation, the cause thrived under Booker's leadership, and the present chapel—a building of "quiet and unassuming elegance" set in its own graveyard—was erected in 1780. It has served the Strict Baptist community continuously since then, and members founded other chapels elsewhere in Sussex during the 18th and 19th centuries. The chapel is a Grade II Listed building.
context_section_description: Bethel Chapel is a plain, simple Vernacular building which has been extended several times.  It has been described as "a quaint and interesting place" with a "quiet and unassuming elegance".  The building is of mixed height, mostly two storeys, and is L-shaped.  The endmost bay is faced with weatherboarding.  The hipped roof is laid with tiles.  The earliest part of the chapel is the northern section and the attached cottage at the west end; the two parts formed a modest rectangle.  An 18 ¹⁄₂-foot (5.6 m) extension in the 19th century brought the chapel's internal dimensions up to 35 ¹⁄₄ by 22 ¹⁄₂ feet (10.7 m × 6.9 m) and also lengthened the cottage.  Of the three surviving entrances, the main, cambered-arched doorway is aligned to the left and has an original panelled wooden door, and the other two have straight-headed doorways with simple wooden doors.  Remains of another entrance are still visible.  Above the main door is a datestone showing the year 1780.  There is a four-window range consisting of tripartite casements.
  Inside, a wooden gallery runs round the north end.  A clock made in Lewes by Thomas Harben is mounted on the front, which is also panelled.  The gallery is lit by windows above the main entrance.  The benches have open backs and are original, but the seats at ground-floor level were replaced in the 19th century: surplus benches were removed to the chapel from the Ebenezer Chapel in Brighton.  A plaster cornice with decorative moulding is also visible inside.  The pulpit, also with decorative mouldings, was installed in the early 19th century.
  Memorials include monuments in the graveyard commemorating Henry Booker (d. 1799) and his wife Sarah (d. 1779), and inside the chapel an oil painting of Booker, with the legend "First preacher of the Gospel at Bethel Chapel, Wivelsfield, Sussex, 1780, died 22 May 1799 aged 69".
caption: The low brick building has a hipped roof.
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